


3 + 1

by sad_goomy



Series: Gladmoon Week 2019 [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Fluff, Gladmoon Day, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Gladion, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, Realization, Sort of? - Freeform, lonashipping, mahinashipping, she's trying to be subtle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 17:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18211397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sad_goomy/pseuds/sad_goomy
Summary: [Gladmoon Week Day 1: Blazing Stars]The three times Gladion rejected Moon, and the first time he didn't.





	3 + 1

 

**Blazing Stars**

_I will try again_

 

* * *

 

**1**

"Do you want to get dinner together?” 

Gladion looks up from his paperwork, seeing that Moon’s paused in petting Silvally and is watching him. It’s the second day this week that she’s in his office, but he’s gotten used to seeing more and more of the Alola Champion over the past month. Her and Hau have made it a point to stop by his office and drag him out from under the mountains of bureaucracy and meetings that taking over Aether has required. 

He suspects Lillie had a hand in it; she knows him well enough to realize that if left to his own devices, the teenager would quickly lose himself in the new responsibility. If Gladion is honest, it’s been nice having the two around, reminding him that he’s still a kid, despite all the growing up that’s been forced on him. 

Often, though, it’s all three of them together, and he’s still getting used to being around just Moon outside of battling. Though he told her he still had to finish up some paperwork, she only smiled and said she’d try not to bother him too much. She stayed true to her word, only asking him the occasional question and playing with Silvally. 

It’s been oddly peaceful to have her here, and he’s enjoyed the company. He chews his cheek in thought, eying the large stack of memos he has to get through this week. “When?” 

She shrugs, but the air around her is electric, and her leg is bouncing. 

If Gladion didn’t know any better, he might say she’s nervous. 

“I was thinking tonight, after you get off work.” She’s fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, not quite able to meet his gaze. Something close to a blush colors her freckled cheeks, and she quickly adds, “There’s a new sushi place in Malie City that I wanted to check out.” 

He considers it for a moment, and she looks up from under her lashes with bated breath. 

“Sure.” 

Moon brightens, sitting up straight with a sparkle in her gray eyes. “Really?” 

 _She must really be excited for this_ _place,_  he thinks to himself with a lopsided smile. “Yeah, so long as it works for Hau.” 

And just like that, her smile falters and she deflates. 

“Oh.” 

He feels like he gave her the wrong answer and hesitates.  _Maybe she’s in a fight with_ _Hau_ _?_  

Before he can ask, though, she springs up, her smile back in place and even wider. “Right, right. I can call him, and we can...we can all go together.” She clears her throat of – disappointment? – and meets his confused stare with an awkward chuckle and a flash of finger guns. “So uh, hang tight!” 

She’s out the door in record time, leaving him speechless and blinking as he struggles to understand what just happened. He shrugs it off, just glad to have plans tonight, and going back to drafting a memo. 

If he listened just a little more closely, he might have heard a very distinct, very anguished groan of distress. 

 

* * *

 

**2**

With Lillie back, Gladion has a little more time to focus on himself, to get back into battling. Once he’s again established himself as the pseudo-champion of the Battle Royal, he decides to start trying his hand at the actual Champion title. It helps that it’s Moon; she always offers an easy smile and quip to break the tension in the beginning, only to give him the battle of his life immediately after. 

On his third attempt, he still finds himself the loser, but even as he withdraws his final Pokémon, he can’t help but smile. “Ever consider taking it easy on me?” 

She grins. “We both know you’d hate that.” 

He shrugs, but it’s true, and it’s hard to hide his surprise at the realization that she knows him so well. She waits for him to walk across the platform with her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight from one foot to another. 

Moon hopes he can’t see the Butterfree in her stomach. 

They walk down the back stairs together, a new tradition they have in the works. It’s a relatively comfortable silence on his end, and his mind is too wrapped up in dissecting their battle to notice that the silence is a little more nerve-wracking to her. Moon chews her bottom lip, eyes flickering from floor to wall to Gladion’s face, her mind going through thousands of ways to rephrase her upcoming question. 

She settles on simply asking, “Do you want to grab some Tapu Cocoa?” They stop at the door, and she adds with half of a laugh, “My treat.” 

He buttons his coat, his mind already elsewhere as he replies, “I have to get back to Aether right after I heal my team. Lillie and I have a gala for the board.” 

The door is opening and she’s struggling to come up with a response that doesn’t betray the letdown. “Yeah, of course – good luck.” He nods, and then he’s out the door, boots crunching on snow as she watches for a moment from the doorway. Before he can get out of earshot, she swallows her pride and puts the chipper back in her voice. “Maybe next time?” 

His only response is a wave as his figure retreats further and further away. 

If he’d turned around, he might have seen Moon bang her head against the doorway with a flush across her ears and cheeks. 

 

* * *

 

**3**

He’s not sure how he found out that they both listen to Roxie, but it’s been nice to have someone else to talk to about the singer and gym leader. 

Gladion puts on another song off her latest album, the music floating off of Moon’s porch and to the ocean beyond. 

Hau groans, standing from the wicker chair. “If I’d known this would turn into a listening party for angry music, I wouldn’t have come.” 

Moon lightly kicks his calf from her own chair, teasing, “You have no taste.” 

The three laugh, and as it settles, Hau looks between the other two with a mysterious smile. “I should go help Lillie with the snacks,” he mutters, turning and giving Moon a wink that Gladion misses. 

When the blond looks over at the Champion, she’s quick to divert her eyes, hiding her flustered state at being caught staring. Gladion doesn’t think much of it, instead mumbling, “How long does it take to make lemonade?” They share a laugh, and he relaxes further back into the chair. He’s found himself spending more and more time alone with Moon, and he always enjoys it. It’s hard not to when there’s so much common ground to discover and something about the way she looks at him makes his chest grow warm. 

Pikipek chirp in the distance and the song fades into the next. Moon fidgets with a ring on her finger, taking a deep breath. “You know, Roxie’s going on tour soon. She’s playing a show in Akala in a few months.” 

He actually did know that, and he had considered going, but he sighs. 

“Concerts aren’t really my thing.” 

The claustrophobia seems like it’d be too much, and just thinking about that many people cramming into a basement and moving makes his stomach turn. When he looks over at her, thinking maybe he should apologize and tell her he hopes she has fun, he stops. She’s grown incredibly still, and he watches with furrowed brows until she lets out a deep breath; it seems like she’s releasing something she’s been holding for months. 

“No worries.” She stands, stretching her back and looking at him with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Let me go check on Lillie and Hau.” 

When she leaves, he swears the sun seems to dim and the Wingull are silent, leaving him to sit with a strange, unpleasant constricting in his chest. He barely registers that Hau’s walked back out onto the porch, taking his seat on the wicker chair and observing the other boy. 

“You realize she’s been trying to ask you out, right?” 

Gladion blinks, raising a brow as the words start to sink in; he immediately deflects them with a scoff. “I highly doubt that.” 

And Hau only shrugs, deciding to change the subject so that he can’t hear Lillie comforting Moon in the kitchen. 

 

* * *

 

**1**

Gladion wakes up at five in the morning in a cold sweat and with a realization. 

Her disappointment at Hau joining them, her insistence on spending more time together, the concert. 

 _Moon’s been trying to ask me out._  

And he’s been consistently turning her down. 

He groans, his head falling into his hands. Silvally sits up, tilting his head in confusion and watching as his owner chastises himself as the sun begins to rise. 

There were so many moments when he could have put the pieces together, but only now, after she’s probably given up, does it all dawn on him. It’s probably too late to do much more than apologize at this point, or maybe it would be better for him to go back to sleep and forget everything – if he tries, he can pretend that he only has platonic feelings for her, that he’s happy with just being friends, that his soft rejections weren’t misguided by insecurity. 

But he throws on the nearest pair of pants and all but runs out the door. 

Better late than never. 

 

* * *

 

“Have you been trying to ask me out?” 

Moon desperately rubs the sleep from her eyes, not entirely sure that she’s actually awake. It’s barely six in the morning, and she’s not sure what she expected when she opened the door in her PJ’s, but it certainly wasn’t a very frazzled Gladion. 

With one foot still in a dream, she has no inhibitions about answering truthfully. “For about a year now.” When his face drops into disbelief, she feels herself finally waking up, thinking out loud, “Wait, you – did you not realize?” 

He swallows, chest still heaving as he catches his breath. “Can you try one more time?” 

Moon gapes, and then the last of her surprise melts into a laugh as she leans against the doorframe. He watches her with absolute determination, and she only smiles, too amused that her persistence did end up paying off in the end. 

 

And so, for the fourth time, she asks him out. 

 

“Hey Gladion, do you want to get breakfast with me?” 

“Yes.” 

 

And for the first time, they’re both on the same page. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I've ever written a fic in this format before, so why not start off Gladmoon Week with it?


End file.
